70 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 
LIMESTONE 
The stone classified under the heading of limestone consists for 
the most part of the common grades of limestone and dolomite such 
as are characterized by a compact granular or finely crystalline 
texture and are lacking in ornamental qualities. 
A smaller part is represented by crystalline limestone and by the 
waste products of marble quarrying which is sometimes employed 
for crushed stone, lime making or flux. Limestone used for the 
manufacture of portland and natural cement is, however, excluded 
from the tabulations so as to avoid any duplications of the statistics. 
Limestones have a wide distribution in the State, the only region 
which is not well supplied being the southern part where the pre- 
vailing formations are sandstones of Devonic age. The mono- 
crystalline varieties occur in regular stratified order in the Cambric, 
Lower Siluric, Upper Siluric and Devonic systems. In most sec- 
tions they occupy considerable belts and have been little disturbed 
from their original horizontal position. On the borders of the 
Adirondacks and in the metamorphosed Hudson River region, how- 
ever, they have been more or less broken up by faulting and erosion 
and in places have a very patchy distribution. 
The Cambric limestones are found in isolated areas on the east, 
south and west sides of the Adirondacks. They are usually impure, 
representing a transition phase between the Potsdam sandstones 
below and the high calcium limestones above. The lower beds of 
the Beekmantown formation as originally defined are now known 
to belong to the Cambric system. The Little Falls dolomite is 
perhaps the most prominent member of the Cambric limestones 
and is extensively developed in the Mohawk valley with quarries 
at Little Falls, Amsterdam, and other places. It is a rather heavily 
bedded stone of grayish color, suitable more especially for building 
purposes. In Saratoga county the Hoyt limestone is in part the 
equivalent of the Little Falls dolomite; it has been quarried for 
building stone just west of Saratoga Springs. On the west side 
of the Adirondacks the Theresa limestone is described by Cushing 
as a sandy dolomite which may in part belong to the Cambric system. 
It is comparatively thin and has no importance for quarry purposes. 
The Beekmantown limestone, which is now taken as including 
the middle and upper beds of that series as earlier defined, is mostly 
restricted to the Champlain valley. It occurs on the New York 
shore in rather small areas, usually down-faulted blocks, that are 
the remnants of a once continuous belt. It is also represented 
